The 30-day Challenge

Today is the Chinese new year. We're now entering the year of the Water Dragon and more than the prediction of the end of the world according to the Mayan calendar, we should focus on the great things that 2012 has to bring. In essence, the year of the Water Dragon will bring so much blessings to those who are generous and kind, to those who are embarking on new adventures and those who  make this world a better place to live in. All of us can do our part, even if it means just changing one bad habit. After all, habits are what make the success and failure patterns  of our life. It's those little things we do everyday on a consistent basis that will dictate the direction our life is taking. 

Read more: How To Take The 30-Day Challenge (Turn A New Habit Into A Way of Life) - https://momtraneur.com/2018/05/20/how-to-take-the-30-day-challenge-turn-a-new-habit-into-a-way-of-life/

Jan. 3 Gratitude Journal

When we have gratitude in our hearts, we attract more of the things we want.  So for today, let me take this time to thank God and the universe for these three things I consider my blessings:

1. That I am able to do what's on my list for the first 3 days of the year. (I hope to be consistent for the next 362 days of the year)
2. That I was able to book cheap flights to Siargao and Cebu this summer. (I hope I can find cheap accommodations too as I will be staying there for 17 days)
3. That I have work I like and hobbies that give me joy. (Since I have been allowing myself to spend more time making my herbal jelly soaps, I am happier and surprisingly excited to continue doing my VA jobs this year.)

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Peace and Inner Guidance

The past year, I have not listened to my inner guidance on several occasions because of other seemingly important and urgent matters. It made me resentful, unhappy and even depressed. I hope to change all that and start living in peace and harmony within myself. This new year serves as a very good platform for personal rebirth.

According to the Para-Gram PEACE by Paramahansa Yoganada:

Change yourself and you have done your part in changing the world. Every individual must change his own life if he wants to live in a peaceful world. The world  cannot become peaceful unless and until you yourself begin to work toward peace. It is only by removing hate from our hearts that we can live a Christlike life.

But how does one remove hate within himself? Since its source usually comes from the fact that we are always doing what is expected of us rather than what we really want to do, then it just means that when we change ourselves according to the dictates of our inner voice (that voice being of God's or from something greater than all of us), then we will start achieving peace and divinity within ourselves.

This also resonates with a quote I read by Shakti Gawain:

Every time you don't follow your inner guidance you feel a loss of energy, loss of power, a sense of spiritual deadness.

This is why we easily get tired and lethargic when we do things we feel are not meant for us to do; This is why on occasions that we do listen to our inner voice and follow our own bliss, we feel much more alive, powerful and full of unconditional love. A balance can be attained if we don't want to risk everything just yet for that one thing we want to do. We can enjoy the process and continue learning from it while slowly changing the direction of our lives to our true calling.

I now include these quotes in my daily reading to bring me peace, and to guide me in my quest for creativity. You can also use them if you want to bring to the surface your creative spirit rather than remain as a shadow of your divine artist self the coming years.

Vision Boards and Guide Folders for a Better New Year

My new vision board for 2012 and beyond.

I spent about five hours from dawn til morning creating my vision board and guide folders. Having a vision board is an amazing tool to help any person achieve his/her goals. According to Jack Canfield, author of of The Success Principles, if you have trouble seeing your goals, use pictures, images and symbols you collect to keep your conscious and subconscious mind focused on your goals. Once you have created these images, you can place them on a dream board or make a collage on a bulletin board, a refrigerator door, or somewhere where you will see them everyday. I placed mine on my office wall, right in front of my computer.

I've been using my old vision board since Oprah taught me how to do it in 1999. Everything I pasted on that old vision board has already come true.

my super old vision board (since 1999)

I made a smaller one which I posted on my 2009  Belle  de Jour planner before but that one got forgotten.

 My 2009 vision board which got neglected when I stopped using my BDJ planner

Dec. 23 Gratitude Journal

I promised myself before that I'll do this gratitude journal on my blog. Here are three things I am thankful for today:

1. Discovering the course The Artists' Way - a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity
2. My sister being home this holiday season
3. My parents staying with us until New Year

How about you? What are you thankful for today?

Morning Pages and Artist Date - Tools of the Artist's Way

As the year is ending, I am reminded once again of projects undone and creative pursuits kept on hold because of lack of time, motivation and the need to earn real money... fast!

So I am embarking on this task of unleashing my inner creativity by taking a 12-week course through "The Artists' Way - a Spiritual Path to Higher Creativity." It is a course in discovering and recovering your creative self written by Julia Cameron and Mark Bryan.



I've gone through the introduction and I was taught how to use two main tools for the duration of the course: Morning Pages and Artist Date

What are morning pages?

Basically, as a student of this course, I am asked to write every morning three pages of whatever comes to my mind. When this course was made, blogging hasn't been born yet. So ideally, this should be written down on a notebook. But I prefer to write it on a separate blog I call Jen's Morning Pages.

Anyway, in terms of its content, there is no right or wrong way of doing this. The things I write about can be negative, positive, boring, wrong grammar, wrong spelling, whatever. It doesn't really matter. The point of this exercise is to be able to write my thoughts the instant I think about them, no matter what I think about the activity, no matter how I feel at the moment, no matter how much I resist doing it, whatever the case may be. No corrections should be made. I just have to do it. This type of discipline will allow me to detach myself from my emotions. Eventually, this act will help unleash my creativity no matter what I feel or think.


What is the Artist date?

This is a set of time (like two hours a week for instance) where I take my own inner artist out on a date. It should just be me and my artist self. Spending time in solitude with my artist child is essential to self-nurturing. It could be anything as long as I do it on my own. I should do what intrigues me, what excites me. In order to have a real relationship with my creativity, I must take the time and care to cultivate it. Generally, the student's creativity will use this time to confront himself, to confide with himself, to bond with himself, and to plan.


These are the two most important things during this whole 12 weeks of unleashing my inner creativity and unblocking my fears and roadblocks. The artists who have taken this course in the past have continued doing these things well beyond the 12-week duration of the course. Many of them have fulfilled their dreams of becoming artists, some have become movie producers (like Steven Spielberg), real authors, painters, etc. I intend to finish this course and continue using the tools afterward. I've already signed my contract and I am committing myself to this.

Wish me luck!

SUCCESS: A Para-Gram by Paramahansa Yogananda

I have applied this Para-Gram time and again... I felt that I have chosen well in terms of work that I want to do but now I'm not so sure anymore.

This card came to me unexpectedly after I did some tarot card reading the other day because I was feeling very confused. It cemented the signs that the universe has been throwing my way as of late.

As the cliche goes, if there's one thing that's constant in this life, it's change. And right now, the wind of change has blown in my direction and whispered in my ear: "Take risks, take a different path and be great at it."

I know it's scary especially when I'm already living a life of comfort and peace. But my heart tells me there could be more.


The Para-Gram of Success says:

THE PARA-GRAM OF SUCCESS